Yes it is true! With our range of one touch Coffee / Cappuccino drinks Machines, a black coffee can cost from as little a 5p a cup.

These fantastic machines can make everything from a Black Coffee to a Latte, Cappuccino or Hot Chocolate, with a very low cup cost if you are giving the drinks away to staff or guests or with very high profits if you are selling drinks in a retail environment for £1-£2 a cup.

Some of these machines are also extremely compact with the Mini Xpression / Mini Monarch only being 165mm wide, at only takes up a very small amount of your valuable retail or office space.

Small Machine, small prices but Big profits!

Written by: Andy from KSV.

Description & Tasting notes:-

Decafeine is for those who prefer their coffee caffeine-free. A well balanced coffee with all the taste but no caffeine which can also be used in combination with the Flavia Creamy Topping to make a caffeine-free Cappuccino or latte. Flavia have a strength guide for there range of Coffee’s and this one ranks at 2 out of 5.

Filterpack drinks are manufactured to be used with the Flavia Creation 400 drinks station, see the full range available in the Drinks Menu section of our Flavia Zone.

Written by: Peter from KSV.

Confusingly the “Cocoa” we refer to in the Western world as the main component of modern chocolate is actually processed from the Cacao bean. Recent archaeological finds in Honduras indicate that as early as 1400BC cacao beans were being processed to produce a form of chocolate drink. It appears that all the early (pre 1500AD) drinks derived from cacao beans were very bitter in taste and often produced fermentable sugars used to produce alcoholic drinks. Both Aztec and Maya cultures added chilli pepper or spices to their “xocolati” to further increase the bitterness.

Chocolate was brought to Europe by the Spanish following their conquests in Central America and was sweetened with milk and sugar to suit Western tastes. The addition of vanilla rather than chilli pepper took the taste even closer to that we recognise today. The first recorded exports of chocolate to Europe arrived in Sevilla, Spain during 1585.
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By the early 17th Century chocolate was considered a luxury drink alongside two other overseas arrivals; tea and coffee with records indicating the first London Chocolate house opened in 1657. For the first 200 years chocolate imported into Europe was only enjoyed in liquid form until the first solid chocolate was invented in Turin towards the end of the 18th century.

The first Swiss chocolate factory opened in 1819 and significantly in 1828  Dutchman Conraad van Houten patented a bean separating method for producing both cocoa butter and powdered cocoa along with an alkali process to reduce the natural bitterness. Production of the first English eating chocolate was made by Joseph Fry and two years later in 1849 the Cadbury Brothers followed with their own version of eating chocolate.

Today Kent and Sussex Vending offer Van Houten drinking chocolate as well as products from Cadbury’s. All our drinking chocolates are specially formulated to provide the best possible drink quality when vended through any of our range of hot drinks machines. Both these products are maintaining a tangible link to the earliest days of European and English chocolate production.

Written by: Rachel from KSV.

Go for Gold, Gold Blend that is! If there were a Drinks Olympics then surely Nescafe Gold Blend would take the Gold Medal?

Gold Blend takes first place and is the best seller in our range of In-Cup Vending Machines, top quality drinks within seconds, quite remarkable!

You can have Gold Blend every day with one of our great selection of In-Cup Vending Machines from the compact tabletop KSV 1001 Extra with 5 selections to the 10 selection KSV 1070 Auto with 10 selections and 740 cup capacity there is a drinks machine to suit every budget and size of business from 5 to 1000 staff.

Rent one of our In-Cup drinks machines from as little as £6.95 per week, why not call us for advice and full details, we can’t give you a gold medal but we can supply you Gold Blend!

Written by: Jon from KSV.

Description & Tasting notes:-

Earl Grey really needs no introduction derived from Bergamot oil this is a classic tea with a distinctive aroma.

Filterpack drinks are specially made to be used in Flavia Drinks Machines, see the full range available in the Drinks Menu section of our Flavia Zone.

Written by: Peter from KSV.

In addition to store closures in the US, Starbucks are to close 61 outlets in Australia with the loss of approximately 685 jobs. It seems the world economy is even affecting the daily coffee fix and it may become harder to find a local coffee shop?

With the range of Coffee Machines from KSV including the Flavia Creation 400 and our selection of one touch Cappuccino Coffee Systems, you can enjoy coffee shop quality drinks in your own workplace but at a fraction of the cost including, Cappuccino, Latte, Espresso and Hot Chocolate.

Why go out of the office and pay high street prices when you can get great coffee in your own workplace with a Drinks System or Vending Machine from KSV.

Written by: Rachel from KSV.

Flavia are helping customers reduce energy consumption.

The Flavia Creation 400 was designed with low energy use in mind, in-fact tests have shown it to be 26% more energy efficient than it’s leading competitor in the single serve coffee machine sector and 17% better than the average results for the bean to cup machines tested.

The tests were carried out using the European Vending Association test protocols and the Flavia Creation 400 when in stand by mode outperformed all of the table-top office coffee and freshbrew machines tested.

So if you want to reduce your energy consumption and enjoy great tasting drinks then the Flavia system could be ideal for you.

Written by: Danni from KSV.

Description & Tasting notes:-

Flavia Espresso Roast can be drunk by itself and offers a strong espresso kick, it can also be used in conjunction with the Creamy Topping sachet to make an authentic Cappuccino. On the Flavia strength guide Espresso roast rates as 5 on a scale from 1 to 5.

Filterpack drinks are made to be used in Flavia Drinks Machines, see the full range available in the Drinks Menu section of our Flavia Zone.

Written by: Peter from KSV.

Should you buy Vending Machines on the internet?

My advice is you should use the internet for research but only buy from an established traditional vending company, beware of Virtual Vending companies that have little more than a website. Vending is a service industry and choosing the right machine is just the start, we are a vending company that uses the internet Not an internet vending company.

In general you should avoid auction sites offering equipment for sale but with no warranty or the facility to supply ingredients for the machinery, as these are normally used machines and often end up proving to be false economy. Also comparison sites may seem to be an easy option but it does not work as well for vending as it does for insurance, you should speak to a professional advisor that can tailor a system to suit your particular requirements.

Ask the company you are considering how long they have been established (KSV have been trading since 1985) do they have there own service engineers (We do) and can they offer a delivery service for all the Tea & Coffee supplies you may require (We can).

In general I would advise you to use the internet to narrow down your search but ensure you speak to a professional, well established company that can give you advice based on years of experience to provide a great refreshment solution that offers overall value for money and not just the cheapest price on the Web!.

Written by: Richard from KSV

Over a thousand years ago the Aztecs of Central America prized cocoa beans so highly that they used them as a form of currency in many financial transactions as well as producing a rather bitter tasting drink from them.

It is reputed that when the Spanish conquered the Aztecs in 1519 rather than finding the palace of Emperor Montezuma full of gold and conventional riches it was in fact packed with cocoa beans. The Aztecs claimed their “Xocolati” hot drink had properties to over come both hunger and tiredness something many hot chocolate drinkers can relate to today.

Aztec society valued a fresh avocado at a mere 3 cocoa beans whilst a turkey was reputed to be worth at least 100 beans. Some reports suggest that around this time slaves were also being traded in Central America with cocoa beans being used as the currency of choice.

Today in our modern 24 hour global economy Cocoa along with many other traded commodities such as Coffee, Oil and precious metals could perhaps be regarded as a currency once more. There are often large trades and ‘future options’ taken in key commodities by dealers and brokers to mitigate actual and anticipated fluctuations in ‘real’ currencies.

Kent and Sussex Vending have a comprehensive range of Vending Machines that can produce a choice of hot chocolates, but are available to lease or buy in Sterling only. At this time cocoa beans are not accepted for payment!

Written by: Rachel from KSV.